1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a crimp terminal that is attached by crimping to an exposed core at the end of a coated wire.
2. Description of the Related Art
Crimp terminals that are crimped to an exposed core at the end of a coated wire have been employed widely with coated wires that are used in the electrical systems of cars and the like. JP 5-31130A discloses such crimp terminals that have a connecting portion formed from a conductive member, such as a metal, and conductively connected to an electrical connection target, a crimp portion having a core crimping portion that is fixed by crimping to an outer peripheral surface of the core of the coated wire, and a link that extends therebetween. To ensure the waterproofness of the section of the crimp terminal attached to the coated wire, the crimp portion and the core are covered in a sealed state, by inserting a heat shrinkable tube containing hot-melt adhesive over a peripheral region that includes the crimp portion and heat shrinking the heat shrinkable tube, or sealing a peripheral region of the crimp portion using a cylindrical molded component of a synthetic resin material.
The core needs to contact the crimp portion over a sufficient area to ensure reliable conduction between the crimp terminal and the coated wire. Also, the crimp portion and the core need to be reliably covered with a covering cylindrical body such as the heat shrinkable tube or the molded component to ensure reliable waterproofness of the crimp portion. In view of this, JP 5-31130A proposes forming a large notch in a central section of the link between the connecting portion and the crimp portion, and an upward protuberance is formed by bending the notched section up on the side on which the core crimping portion protrudes. The core of the coated wire can be inserted into the crimp portion until the core abuts the upward protuberance thereby ensuring sufficient contact between the crimp portion and the core. Also, the covering cylindrical body by inserting the covering cylindrical body moved to a position beyond the upward protuberance to cover the crimp portion and the core reliably.
However, the above-described structure created the potential for insufficient rigidity of the link. More particularly, external force caused by interference with other members, vibrations and the like is concentrated on the link between the connecting portion, which is the fixing point to the connection target, and the crimp portion, which is the fixing point to the coated wire when the crimp terminal is connected to a connection target. Thus a large bending force is applied to the link. With a crimp terminal having a conventional structure, a large notch must be provided in this link to form the upward protuberance. As a result the connecting portion and the crimp portion are connected only by edge portions of the link. Hence, it was difficult to ensure sufficient rigidity of the link, leading to problems such as durability deterioration and breakage of the link.
The upward protuberance is only about the size of the plate thickness of the crimp terminal. Thus, it was difficult to ensure sufficient coverage of the core by the heat shrinkable tube, in the case where one of the sides sandwiching the upward protuberance was used for positioning the core and the other side was used for positioning the heat shrinkable tube. Accordingly, there was a risk of the core being exposed simply by the heat shrinkable tube coming loose and shifting due to the high temperature environment in a vehicle. Therefore, the conventional upward protuberance was not sufficient to realize adequate positioning of the core and the heat shrinkable tube to guarantee waterproofness.
The invention was made in view of the abovementioned circumstances, and has as an object to provide a crimp terminal that can realize stable positioning of a core and a covering cylindrical body while ensuring the rigidity of a link.